


And I'm Empty and Aching and I Don’t Know Why

by oliviathecf



Series: Hal's Birthday, 2020 [2]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Green Arrow (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics)
Genre: 1970s, Birthday, First Kiss, Hard Traveling Heroes, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Period-Typical Internalized Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22747768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oliviathecf/pseuds/oliviathecf
Summary: Whiskey never burned when he was with Ollie.
Relationships: Hal Jordan/Oliver Queen
Series: Hal's Birthday, 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634401
Comments: 9
Kudos: 28





	And I'm Empty and Aching and I Don’t Know Why

**Author's Note:**

> I quite liked this one, I love anything HalOllie and anything 70s, so this was a treat to write.
> 
> Title is from "America" by Simon and Garfunkel, which is their song.
> 
> Enjoy!

There was something about being on the road that had changed him. It hadn’t taken long for him to loosen up with Ollie at his side, always ready to sling an arm over his shoulder or to shoot him a somewhat-self-satisfied, lazy grin as quick as he’d shoot an arrow. It was companionship in an entirely new way, it wasn’t anything like the friendships he’d had when he was a kid or when he was in the Air Force. Hell, it wasn’t like anything he had with other heroes, Ollie was just...different.

It was easy to be friends with Ollie in some ways, difficult in others. They argued like hell and threw punches like it was nothing, but then they wrapped each other’s split knuckles and agreed to leave everything behind to go on an endless journey to discover America. Hal had never felt closer to his country...hadn’t ever felt closer to _someone_ else in his entire life.

Maybe that was what happened when you saw the worst and the best of someone, underneath an endless blanket of stars or the first light of dawn.

The pair sat together in front of a roaring fire, eyes cast up to the stars as Hal told Ollie all of the constellations he could remember, all the stars that he had been closer to than Ollie could ever imagine. His eyes trailed down to the strong plane of Ollie’s jawline, cast in a too bright orange that had Hal averting his eyes before he could think about things that he wasn’t supposed to.

A part of him thought that Ollie might not care. A more traitorous part thought that he might _agree_. And that was what scared him, the idea that they were moving towards something that he couldn’t predict, something he had never thought of before meeting Ollie.

The sound of Ollie rooting through his bag took Hal out of his thoughts, snapping him back to their clearing in the woods.

“Hope you didn’t think I forgot, I just figured that giving you a bottle of whiskey at breakfast would’ve been a little strange.”

And then a bottle of whiskey, nicer than anything he usually drank, was being pushed into his hands. He looked up at Ollie, who was rattling their tin coffee cups at him with a cheeky grin on his face.

“...Oh, uh. Thanks. But what are you talking about?”

Ollie’s face fell slightly, the tin cups falling into his lap.

“Did I get the date wrong? I thought that February 20th was your birthday.”  
“It...it’s really the 20th already?” Hal asked, eyes falling to the bottle of whiskey in his hand.  
“Did you really forget your own birthday?”  
“No! I just...uh...I lost track of time. Y’know how it is in the woods.”

He had honestly forgotten all about his own birthday, but Ollie never seemed to forget anything that Hal had ever told him. It was his freakiest and only super power, the fact that his memory was better than anyone Hal had ever known. He’d even remembered Hal’s birthday when even he had forgotten.

It was good for any future relationship he might have with that bird lady, he certainly wouldn’t be forgetting any anniversaries or Valentine’s Day. Not like Hal would, he couldn’t even remember Carol’s birthday while they were dating. Maybe Ollie had a system, he could ask for it whenever he manages to score Carol back.

“Earth to Spaceman Hal, is your brain flaking out on you?” Ollie asked, waving a hand in front of his face.  
“Oh, no, sorry. I was just thinking about how the hell I managed to forget my birthday.”  
“Ah, pal, it’s like you said. Things can get a little queer in the woods.”

Ollie clapped him on the shoulder and gave him another one of those broad smiles like he hadn’t said something that made Hal flush a deep red, pulling the bottle from his fingers and cracking it open to pour the both of them a few fingers. It was a far nicer whiskey than Hal would usually buy, he knew that Ollie had money but the bottle had to have cost at least thirty dollars, if not more. He wondered where Ollie found it in the tiny town they were staying near, or if he’d brought it from a bigger town.

Of course, Hal’s mind was still caught on getting a little queer in the woods, even as Ollie pushed the tin cup into his hands and clanked them together.

“Happy birthday, Hal.”

He watched Ollie drink deeply from the cup, thought that his fingers were meant to hold a finer crystal. Nothing like a tin cup that they had rinsed out with river water. But there he was, drinking expensive whiskey out of that tin cup, warming Hal’s left side even as there was plenty of room around the fire.

It all made him feel nervous in ways that he couldn’t describe. 

So he raised the cup to his lips and tasted the finest whiskey he’d ever had while sitting on a log in the woods next to his closest and strangest friend, while he could hardly keep his eyes off of the way the fire glowed on his skin. And he couldn’t help but _want_ , just as he could taste the smoke and peat and faint vanilla hints in the whiskey, like all the best parts of a good fire and good companionship. 

He could hear Ollie talking about the whiskey but it was blocked out by a thought that couldn’t just be brought upon by the barest sip of alcohol. Because he was leaning in and Ollie’s words were trailing off, because the only thing he wanted to do in life was stay between moments, after the taste of fine whiskey, before finding out what it might taste like on Ollie’s lips. Between giving something terrifying a chance, an ache deep in the pit of his stomach.

It was happening. He couldn’t stop it anymore, every thought marching up to be taken down systematically by actually knowing what it might feel like to kiss Oliver Queen.

And then he did. A press of lips against lips, the first time he’d ever felt a beard brushing up against his face. It was like how he’d never let himself imagine it to be, it should’ve felt disgusting and wrong. Instead, it was like nice whiskey in a tin cup, the vanilla hints stronger on Ollie’s lips. It all made him want to cry like a child and he really didn’t know why, overwhelmed with his mouth pressed against Ollie’s, tin cup clutched in his fist like a lifeline.

He broke the kiss with a soft gasp, the apology already out on the tip of his tongue. He just hoped that Ollie would let him down easy, that he would forgive Hal for making a mad dash over the line.

Instead, he chuckled softly and pried the cup out of Hal’s clutching fingers to set it aside. He cupped Hal’s face in a way that was far too tender to feel real, tilting their foreheads together.

“I was wondering when you’d finally kiss me.” He murmured.

And then he connected their lips again.

Somehow, it was even sweeter the next time around.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm still going to have anonymous comments turned off, I'll probably keep them off for a few months and then I'll see how I feel about it after that. You can find me at these various places online, feel free to hit me up about this fic or some of my other ones.
> 
> [ Fic Blog. ](https://fanfictionolivia.tumblr.com/)   
>  [ Twitter. ](https://twitter.com/fficolivia)


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